Tuesday, May 18, 2010

I was shopping at Stanley’s my favorite produce store, when a ran across mustard chips, freshly made in the store’s new deli and butcher section. I stopped by the chip counter and saw rows and rows of Jiminy Chips, fresh made potato chips in the expected and unusual flavors, Sea Salt, Mustard, BBQ and Chocolate Marshmallow. Behind the counter stood a Stanley employee, manning the chip stand.

I grabbed a bag of mustard chips and my friend grabbed a bag of sea salt. Before we could even leave the paring lot, we ripped into the chips. The first thing I noticed was the lightness of the potato. Uniformly thin, the chips weren’t dry but they weren’t oily either. Light and crisp, the mustard flavor was barely noticeable with my first bite, but I attribute this to the homemade nature of the chips. The tangy-mustard flavor jumped onto my tongue with the next chip and subsequent chips. The Sea Salt chips had a much lighter, subtle flavor and, as you might imagine, tasted more like a traditional chip.

Knowing that fellow Fancy Food editor Ashley Trent was a mustard-chip fan, I brought her a bag the next week. “Ohhhh,” she said almost instantly. “These remind me of dipping my Portillo fries in mustard. Love it!”

The next day, as I continued to snack on the light chips, I looked more into the company. Jiminy Chips offers grocers and food retailers a chip-making machine and sources potatoes from Jiminy-approved farms. While I found Jiminy Chips within the deli section of a produce store, the chips are delicate and fresh enough to complement a gourmet establishment. Imagine setting up promotions for big sports day (read: the Super Bowl) or weekend cookouts during the summer. Freshly made chips, I think, can help a gourmet retailer define themselves and create another unique offering.